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Vanderbilt poll: “Yes” to Insure Tennessee, “No” to outsourcing

NASHVILLE — Support for Gov. Bill Haslam's alternative Medicaid expansion plan remains high among Tennesseans despite the state legislature's refusal to consider the plan, according to the statewide Vanderbilt University Poll released Thursday.

Vanderbilt poll: “Yes” to Insure Tennessee, “No” to outsourcing

Vanderbilt University political science professors Josh Clinton, left, and John Geer present the findings of the newest state Vanderbilt University Poll Thursday at the university's student life center. (Photo by Richard Locker)

NASHVILLE — Support for Gov. Bill Haslam's alternative Medicaid expansion plan remains high among Tennesseans despite the state legislature's refusal to consider the plan, according to the statewide Vanderbilt University Poll released Thursday.

By contrast, an even larger percentage of Tennesseans oppose the governor's plan to outsource the management and maintenance of virtually all state-owned buildings and college campuses to private companies, the poll found.

The survey of 1,001 Tennessee registered voters indicates that 63 percent either strongly support or somewhat support the governor's Insure Tennessee plan, which would expand health insurance coverage to 280,000 low-income uninsured working people, mostly paid for by the federal government. That level of support is virtually unchanged from the 64 percent who said they supported the plan in both the last two Vanderbilt polls in May and November 2015. Seventeen percent of respondents strongly or somewhat oppose Insure Tennessee and 12 percent neither support nor oppose the plan.

Insure Tennessee has never been voted on by the full legislature since Haslam unveiled it just before the 2015 legislative session. In April, House Speaker Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, created a task force to examine possible alternatives to the Haslam plan. It is holding hearings across the state and is due to report its findings in June.

But another top Haslam initiative — contracting out the operation of state-owned buildings, parks, prisons, college and university campuses — has little support. The poll found that 68 percent believe the state should continue managing its facilities, up from 63 percent last November, while 24 percent favor privatization, down from 28 percent.

The newest Vanderbilt Poll was conducted April 25 to May 11 by the VU Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. Pollsters called registered voters, who have land lines and cellphones, and the overall poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percent.

Pollsters also found that 54 percent of respondents strongly oppose or somewhat oppose allowing same-sex couples to marry — the same level as last November but down from 59 percent opposition last May, just before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the nation. About 30 percent strongly or somewhat support allowing same-sex couples to marry and about 14 percent neither support nor oppose.

However, younger Tennesseans are more likely to favor legalized same-sex marriage. Among 18- to 29-year-olds, 43 percent support, 34 percent oppose and 23 percent neither support nor oppose. In the poll's three other age groupings, opposition is stronger than support and opposition increases with older residents. Among Tennesseans ages 30 to 44, 47 percent oppose same-sex marriage and 33 percent support. Among 45- to 64-year-olds, 61 percent oppose and 27 percent support. And among respondents 65 and older, 67 percent oppose while only 20 percent support.

Despite those findings, 50 percent of respondents said they would oppose efforts by the Tennessee legislature to reverse the Supreme Court's ruling and make same-sex marriage illegal in the state if it meant losing up to $8.5 billion a year in federal funding for Tennessee. Thirty-nine percent would support such legislative efforts and 10 percent neither support nor oppose.

After the Supreme Court ruling last summer, state lawmakers discussed having a special legislative session to try to reverse the ruling but the discussion fizzled out without action. Another effort quickly failed in the regular legislative session early this year.

And Tennesseans' views appear to be moderating on whether businesses providing services and products to the public should be allowed to refuse service to same-sex couples on religious grounds: 49 percent said businesses should be allowed to refuse services, down from 57 percent a year ago, while 45 percent said they should be required to provide services to all customers, up from 38 percent a year ago.

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